Malfunction of the Year
by Other Side of Starlight
Summary: This whole situation was placed firmly under the label of not her problem until they drew apped inside a life simulation VR game that's a little too life-like, she has to figure out where the world she's been dropped into is going while trying to find a way out. Along the way, she rewrites history and comes to find there's more than meets the eye to the game she's playing.
1. I Trip Over A God

**It's a quality of the gods**

 **to see a creature with it's back broken**

 **And be unmoved.**

 **-Suniti Namjoshi, "It's a quality of the Gods"**

* * *

"Be careful, ok? I don't know how many bugs I've already weeded out so far without us even running it, so if something starts look off, let me know ok? No need to chance it." Damian fiddled with a few more wires before handing her the headset.

"I know, new tech, new risk," the company's safety motto sounded almost catchy coming from her mouth, her voice pitching into the over-dramatic falsetto of the spokeswoman of Britta, the developers of the new, fully immersive gaming software she was about to take for a test drive. Everyone in the office had drawn straws and she won.

"Brianne, I'm serious, keep your comm on ok? This thing is seriously twisted in some spots so I might have to talk you through some immersive repair, ok?" Damian come over to the table she' was sitting on, papers and blueprints pushed to the side to make room for her improper conduct, and adjusted the body suit's sensors again. "Talk to me, even if it's stupid stuff. I want to hear everything that's going on."

"What are the odds that this thing is going to crash one me?" She threw her long hair over her shoulder so she could see the headset better, familiarizing herself with the design. Kicking her legs, she poked him with one of her toes. "Surely they wouldn't be testing it on people if it wasn't safe."

Rolling his eyes and giving her a look, "Yea, sure. What could go wrong? I'm dropping my little sister into a violently unstable algorithm of coding that's suppose to look like a VR game mimicking everything from combat to house life. You just jinxed yourself and I'm now expecting check-ins every five minutes, ok?"

"Yea, yea," She moved to the gaming pod and slung herself into the padded interior, feeling the wiring in her suit and headset connect to the systems, "Five minutes, twisted coding, alternate gameplay, I get it. Now, light it up."

The start menu flared blue, lines of coding and bright overlay advertisements for the game's developers covering the bright white walls of the simulated lab like room.

"Brianne do you read?"

"Loud and clear! So far everything looks like its where it's suppose to be, eye watering ads included."

A sigh, "Keep your eyes out for any blurring or pixels, they aren't that important in small doses but too many can stall the systems."

"In that case tell the bosses to double check the ads, some of them are barely legible,"

"I think that was actually intentional, Something about aesthetic." She rolled her eyes. Of course

The floating menu read **New Game** only, which makes sense seeing how this is her first rodeo. She slamed her hand on the lettering as she walked forward, the game shifting around her and coalescing into the lab white character design room, a featureless creature of robotic origin standing at parade rest on a pedestal.

"New Game button works, the room's shifting to my steps and moving around me, I can't really get too close to walls. I'm assuming that coding is going to be a bit of an issue," She kicked her bare foot on the floor, white tile giving for a second.

The environment glitched, pixelating and freezing the bright advertisements. Her steps hitched and she had to steady herself on the holo screen while the disorientation passes.

"Brianne?! Systems just lagged, what did you do?"

"Kicked the floor, the same program on the walls is attached to floor and the whole thing kind of fritzed, looking a little better now but we still have some pixels out. Disorientation noted," she taped the command prompts a few times, finally getting the screen to start reacting.

"Are you ok?"

"Yea just surprised, no big deal."

 **Character Design**

 **Name**

 **Stats**

Grining as she selected character design and started sliding the options around, her fingers barely brushing over commands before they come to the fore, playing out on the character blank.

"This is so cool!"

"Are you ok?"

"Yesss, I just think this is really cool, you can do so much wi-"

"Are you ok?" grinding, glitching vocals.

She stoped ogling flight frames for a minute, frowning at the sound, "Damian?"

"Somebody get a medic!" Thump. thump. Thump. Thump. The lighting dimming in time with the sound, machinery revving up, systems glitching out. Neon colored words blaring across the walls, shifting into new sentences.

"Wha-?"

"Hey, hey bro? What's going on?"

The ads flickered out, the ceiling dripping in black pixels. She steped away from the screen to avoid some, off balance when the floor bowed under her, the black spreading like-

"Rise up! Rise up!" The roar of a crowd, metal slamming into metal, wailing keens into the void. A planet groaning under the weigh of it's children. Of their pain, their anger.

"Damian! Damian it's lost stabilization! Pull me out! You have to pull me out!"

"Are you ok!?" her brother's voice this time, distorted.

"NO! NO I'M-"

The walls flickered to black, leaning and falling inward like a wave cresting toward her, the floor giving out and rising up to meet it. She could see the screen flicker off and on, red alerts spamming across it, the character blank dissolving in the rising darkness.

It felt like treading water, her fingers barely skimming over the holo screen, words flashing on repeat, pixelating into the black.

' **YOU ARE BEING DECIEVED'**

 **'YOU ARE BEING DECIEVED'**

 **'YOU ARE BEING DECIEVED'**

 **'YOU AR-'**

"Are you ok?" a voice she didn't know, a language she didn't understand but she _knows_.

The screen sliped into the rising tide, the last bit of light swallowed. She went under.

There was nothingness.

"Are you ok child?"

Giant hands came around her, cradling her in the dark, the world dimly lit by glowing balls of light, zipping by, moving like stars in the black of space.

"They aren't stars, but they thank you for the compliment, little one."

She tried to look up at the source of the sounds, words, but she felt limp, weightless. Something in her chest burned.

"It's gong to be alright, you're just changing right now. Soon I'll set you free."

In the distance the keening she'd heard earlier rang out, making the heat in her chest ache.

"There's your dani, little one. He thinks you're gone. Gave everyone a scare, you did, when you flickered out. Well, not you, but you, if that makes sense. I'll give you back in a minute."

The hands, fingers bigger than her whole body, why couldn't she feel her body, lifted her up toward the voice. The glow let her see the fingers color, glossy blue, metal. This thing-person-god is metal…

 _Primus_

She could hear it's _his_ vents, cycling in the background, the only noise beside the humming of systems.

 _His name is Primus_.

Two eyes _optics_ captureed her attention, staring down at her and he smiled, face lit by the million of lights _sparks_ flickering and flowing around them.

"Everything is going to be ok, child."

Voice like rolling thunder, temple bells and acid rain on the roof of the great cathedral. Like the roar of victory and the steps of armies.

"There you go. It's time to wake up now, don't you think?"

Hands closed around her and the darkness came again.

 **GAME START**


	2. There's Suffering to be Had

Little soul, little stray,

Little drifter ,

Now where will you stay…

-Hadrian

The world was bright, the light hitting her sensitive optics jarring after the long dark. She still couldn't move and there wasn't any sound, the world still a blurry smear of colors. The game menu poped up with the prompts.

Was that all just the opening scene?

She must have accidently started the game or the game had unstalled suddenly and tried to run. She looked at the menu to check her options. Unlike a lot of games with an individual point system for separate attributes, this VR leveled all her skills as she leveled herself, allowing her to smoothly grow into her raised stats with each progressive level. With each level up, she was suppose to receive some sort of skill or star point that she could use to unlock new abilities, talents or milestone Quest that she could build on. Completing quests and special actions would earn her points too depending on what it was about.

The opaque screen in front of her read **Skills, Subspace, Upgrades, Holomap, Quest** and **Data** in solid black. She thumbed to the map, only seeing her dot in the center, and then to Data, which was blank besides what she assumed is the date. A system notification opened:

Welcome to Malfunction! The VR game that immerses you in a world of fantastical wonder. You're just starting out, not even fully online yet for the first time! Isn't it exciting! You chose our New Character mode, which means you'll be living out life from the beginning and the decisions you make now can impact the choices available in later gameplay, so choose wisely! The world will react to your gameplay and tailor the game to you, so now two players will never play the same game! Right now you don't need a lot as a sparkling, so a lot of options will be disabled. As you grow, be sure to revisit places to see what you missed. Have fun and remember to play freely!' -Britta Development Team.

She could practically hear the spokeswoman's voice, and mentally dismissed the image, seeing that the upgrade, skill and subspace options were now disabled. No sooner than she closed one window, another appeared.

…..

Quest level 1: Runt

You were just born under mysterious circumstances, complete all prompts given by medic. The world can be a scary place, so it's ok if you cry.

Reward: Completion of level 1

+1 Skill Point

Accept?

…..

Yes, she'd do that at least. The screen flickered away and the world came into sharp focus. Flat on her back, swaddled in something slightly stretchy, she saw the bright recessed lighting of what her info panel cheerily infomed her was The Medbay, Tarn, Cybertron, in the order of immediate location, city, planet. Her health bar was at the top left of her vision, the grey disabled subspace slots to the bottom left. She mentally poked at the tabs until the bars minimize.

"Hey there little one," a heavy calming field and big metal hands came into her field of vision and started undoing the knot in the mesh. The medic, she assumed, is colored red with white accents, blue optics watching her, analyzing. He started by taking her little servos in his, making sure each digit worked and moved around his fingers right. Moving on to her pedes, he pushed them against her body, making sure the joints in her knees bent right and her hips stayed in socket. She had tiny claws that she couldn't control, sheathing and unsheathing them impulsively. There wasn't any real challenge to this quest. Maybe this was just like a game mechanic tutorial? The medic was careful not to hurt her and keeps up a soothing monologue of what was mostly baby chatter.

"Well, lets check those wings now. Turn over, it'll just take a moment…"

Well he tried. Fingers ghost over her back, onto the edges of what were apparently tiny wings. Very sensitive tiny wings. She screamed of course and her chest _spark_ burned hot, fire dripping into her lines in a blink, burning her from the inside out. The whole room started to pixelate, colors dimming. Screaming somewhere. Where had she gone? Log Out. Log out. She sent the command prompt again, the medic yelling at someone and holding her to his chassis, field struggling to stay calm, to calm her.

"I said get-"

Log out. Log out. Logout. Log out now. _Logoutlogoutlogoutlogoutlogoutgetmeoutnow_.

ERROR: ACTION NOT AVAILABLE

Not available!? Here she was trapped in this game with the fire of hell dripping through her and she couldn't even-

"Stop! Come on kid stay with me! Some body get the crash cart!" Different arms snatch her writhing frame from the medics, her screams stopping at least. Now she was just clicking desperately, pain making the lights she could see flare bright in time with her spark.

"You're alight, you're safe, dani's here. Nothings going to get you, Hush. Hush little star," voice like rolling thunder, the chest under her helm vibrated with each word. A hand big enough to wrap around her, cradling her, protecting. Field anchoring her, massive and written through with the coding to command.

"Lord High Protector Megatron! Shouldn't you be resting-" Blackness. The light dimmed and went out.

ERROR: LOG OUT OPTION NOT AVAILABE AT THIS TIME. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER

Quest level 1: Integration: Complete

Reward: 2+ Skill points. Level 2


	3. Please Lie to Me

"How pathetic, you're scared. Then again, who could blame you?"- unknown

"Hello! My name is Filter and I'll be doing patient education today!" The diminutive little bot sits behind the desk and waved her and her mother, or dani she guessed, toward one of the large seats. Watching it fold out and expand to fit his size, her dani took his time getting comfortable, rearranging her on his chest closest to his spark as the medics had suggested and sorting out the mesh pouch they had put together for her. The medic said she was suppose to be able to cling to his plating instinctively but she was so little compared to him, all his plating thick with too-small spaces for her to safely hold and her arms and pedes too weak, her control over her claws spastic at best. And she was so sleepy, a drained feeling she had had since waking up for the second time in the medic's care. Dani had been pretty startled the first time she had lost her grip, the feeling of falling and being caught jolting her awake. The medics clucking and flaring their plating as she, predictably, had started crying. Again. Like a big baby.

Which she was technically. But really! It's like the game was playing with her emotions, her an adult, bursting into odd clicking and chirping noises every time something startled her. Which was a lot. She wasn't even human anymore! And don't even get her started on the carrier-creation bond thing. It felt like gravity, an awareness, knowing where dani was even when he'd be across the room. Her past relationship with her parents had been complicated and here was this fictional coding-created not even human who's giving gold star effort to smother her with affection. Discretely of course, but she didn't think the medics were fooled. He rarely even put her down, which was great in her little sparkling mind, but so, so unfair.

"I understand that you are probably ready return to your duties but considering nature of some of your injuries-"

"Flinger, I don't see how a mech with your set of skills is necessary in this situation. Now if you could.." There's a look, "I have duties to attend to."

"It's Filter, my Lord. And I'm getting there. Since you seem like a fairly straight forward mech, let me ask you a few questions." Illuminated flimsies were shuffled. "You did not know you were carrying, correct?"

"Yes," Shifting, tucking mesh closer. Dani didn't like this mech, doesn't like how he looked at her.

"And you don't know who the sire could be, right?"

"I might have an idea."

"Well you have several options since this was unexpected and with your responsibilities I'm sure you don't exactly want a sparkling underfoot. I can arrange for a foster couple to take her in before any parental bonds settle too much. You'd be able to choose who you think would be the best fit of course. The next option is a crèche; you could still claim her and there would be days where you could visit. She would be surrounded by caretakers and given a truly exceptional education. Despite the lack of a Sire willing to claim her your position alone can grantee her entrance into the Alpha one in Iacon or the Alpha Crèche in Simfur if you perhaps wanted her to live a more… devoted life? Some truly talent priestess have come from there." He kept shuffling the little flimsies around, making several piles with crèches, foster families or orphanages from around Cybertron.

They all looked very high class, the couples draped in shining meshes and smiling in front of an expanse of estate land, lavish interiors or ornate gardens. The crèche brochures showed classes, available at a price of course and seemed to look more like permanent, year round boarding schools. She could see the New Information notification pop up at the edge of her vision with each new flimsy. He wouldn't just get rid of her, right? She'd heard several mechs call him 'Lord' but he wouldn't just leave her with some strangers and move on, would he? Her vents started up that little hiccup they did when she got upset and she can feel his try to sooth her through the bond.

Massive clawed servos shuffle through the options, discarding one to the side when it didn't seen to meet expectations.

"Why do you think these are my best options?"

"You aren't prepared for a sparkling at this point. I know you and the Winglord had an…agreement but the sparlings produced from the contract stayed with him. You don't have the experience to-"

"Stop."

The mech behind the desk seems to realize he had treaded into some questionable territory.

"She will stay with me, and I will give her a designation at the temple when the deadline passes."

"But-" Dani pushed away the options and held out a servo for the discharge pad.

"If you experience any difficulties and change your mind, feel free to contact me. I'm sure I can find her somewhere fitting of her station and potential if the need arises."

"That will be unnecessary."

Cradled to his chest, she could hear the thrum of his spark, feel the rumble of his voice through the plates of armor. Dani, Lord Megatron, stands and hands the last of the paperwork to the now quiet Filter.

"Lord Megatron, your escort is here." The secretary at the door notifies him we they step out of the office, all pleasant professionalism.

"Come, little star, time to go home."

Home. She certainly hoped so, before she started crying again.

Log Out.

ERROR: ACTION NOT AVAILABLE

Huh. That was a big problem. The world froze when she pulled up her game menu, blinking at the LEVEL 2 banner. 'Congratulations! You passed your first level. You earned 1 skill point. You unlocked the Skills menu.'

Opening the Skills menu, she saw the skills map was still mostly grayed out. Another window read:

Due to your frame some skills will be easier to earn, or cost less points to learn, than others. Spend them as soon as you get them or horde them for an emergency but remember, you can only activate one skill of each type for each level, and you must complete the TUTORIAL TASK for each skill before you can upgrade to the next one.

So she couldn't just activate the whole skill section at once and not know how to use the skills with the game. Plus from the look of it, some skills played into each other. Some were pretty big booster skills and some just seemed to be little tricks. Maybe they would be expanded upon later in the map. The four skill classes are FLIER, WARRIOR, SCOUT and NOBLE. She knew that while these were probably actual titles in the game the labeling only showed how the skills affected certain parts of game play. Like Warrior skills would help her with combat later on if the game led her to needing those skills or Flier skills would obviously help with flying. She had wings so she'd be using those eventually, right? It was the scout and noble that were less obvious. The scout for information gathering maybe? Learning skills? The noble for teams or charismas? Until she unlocked more of the map, there wasn't any way for her to know and looking at the faded areas, she could see where the types of skills overlapped or she would need a skill in a completely different section before she could get a skill another.

The Flier and Warrior skills were completely inactive, probably because she couldn't use them at her age, but Noble had a single skill available.

Truth: You know a lie when you see one. Good for you. Cost 1 skill point

So maybe the noble skills were everyday skills used in social situations?

All three Tier one scout skills were open:

Seer: There's a lot of books in the library. Good thing you can read. Cost 1 skill point

Silence: You're quiet but you're no ghost. Cost 1 skill point

Knowledge: Someone might tell you some things you don't need to know. Cost 3 skill points

Debating for a minute, she knew it was important to learn as much about this game as she could while she was stuck here but she needed to know what was true and what wasn't. While she was at a lower level it would take less experience to level up and she could use her skill points to get rid of some of the lower tier skills so she would have access to the higher skills when she needed them. Mind made up, she hit the Truth skill and the Seer skill.

The Tutorial Task for each skill under her Quest menu said: read three data pads for information about Cybertron for the Seer skill. Identify three lies and one truth for the Truth skill. Each task completed will reward experience points that will help her keep leveling. The experience points rewarded for these is only a couple hundred, so the higher tier the skill is, the more experience she might earn as the skills get harder to master.

The game unfroze and the world resumes, dani's long strides rocking her into a kind of nap. Once he stepped outside the doors though, the whole world descended into noise.

"Lord Megatron! Now that you've made a full recovery-"

"My Lord! When can the public-"

"Lord High Protector! Are there any decisions to be made about-"

"-is it true you were attacked by a member of your own guard?"

"-is it true you were carrying?"

"Lord-"

The crowd seemed to fall back as three massive mechs, almost as big a dani, came from nowhere and silently surround him, leading them to the transport, a hover vehicle as sleek as it was advanced compared to anything found on earth.

The silence after so much noise made her audios ring.

"My Lord, I have made arrangements to your schedule to allow for some down time at the Citadel. It's not the best circumstances but it would lead to a more controlled environment for you to begin addressing the public." Who she thought was a mech was actually a femme, large enough to go toe to toe with any of the mechs in the transport and with enough weapons to boot. She had a hard face and red optics and was making an effort to not look at her but the two other guards didn't seem to have the same problem, discretely leaning to get a better view.

"Thank you Strika, see to it that the security is scanned for any more traitors. I'll be keeping the little one with me but alert Cyclonus to the added security priority," he made sure she was in the mesh, rubbing her little helm distractedly as he scanned the data pad he'd been handed.

Now she could see little a little name icon above Strika's helm, but not the other two. So name boxes appeared when bots were identified?

Time to test this.

It was hard to move as uncoordinated and sluggish as she was but she got twisted just enough to peek over the wrap and make eye contact with the mech on dani's left. Caught in the act of peeking while dani and Strika were going over a schedule of some sort, he locked up like a deer in headlights. Were there deer in this game? A hunting feature? Hmmm.

The guard poked his field against hers, and wasn't that a trip? It would take some practice getting use to those. Looking at this guard, his field just barely brushing hers she could tell he was excited? It felt like anticipation and joy and worry. Like an undercurrent in communication that expressed intentions and feelings to convey without words more complex meanings. It was pretty cool. She knew they had been working on this VR for years and building on old designs and technology as game software had advanced. It was part of the reason there were so many glitches in the system. The game, or the 'Malfunction' as it was affectionately called, was a conglomeration of years and years of patched, pieced and stitched together coding that was suppose to make a VR so realistic, she had had to read through three pages of health alerts alone. It would probably never release now that she had gone and gotten stuck in it. Damian was working on it, she knew. It was only a matter of time before they enabled the Logout button again.

"Blitzwing," the field shot through with fear, respect, loyalty even as dani used his own as a buffer, his attention on the guard. "Do you have something you need to add?" He started trying to get her back in the little pouch mesh thing, but she wanted to get these task over with and see what she was working with. The second field withdrew a little, Blitzwing taking the chance to grin down at her.

"The bitlet is very cute my lord, congratulations." Sounded like the truth to her, of course she was cute. A notification to the side opened to update her on the task status. One truth detected, piece of cake.

"What will you name her?" now that her presence had been acknowledged by dani it seemed acceptable to treat her like she was actually there. Strika was zoned in like a hawk.

"I have to wait till the anointment day deadline, you know that."

"Yes, but do you have any idea at least?"

"Well it's not like I kept a list on me for any surprise sparking I may drop, so no. I'm sure I'll figure something out though, if she makes it. Starscream will probably contest my claim either way."

"She is in poor health?" Ah, Strika disapproved of her? The feeling was gone just a quickly as it came, her face an expression of polite interest. Dani just watched her for a klick, cradling her helm in his massive servos. Did she mention he was huge? She could fit her whole sparkling body into the palm of his hand.

"No," the panels on her back started to itch, twitching. He stroked a claw over them, careful of the tiny, under-developed winglets. "She's healthy in every sense of the word, she's just a little small. Then again, aren't most seekers?" What? Task status update, one lie detected.

"So Starscream is the culprit?" The third mech was a green color, pale decals denoting rank on his pauldrons.

"It was a fling when he was in Tarn for diplomatic visits, nothing to concern ourselves with." Two lies detected. Stop. "He'll probably not want anything to do with her when he still has the three I gave him to keep himself occupied. This one I can raise, and she'll be a fierce warrior when the time comes, I know. Her spark is strong." Three lies detected.

"We should begin drawing up legal documentation then, there is a chance he could want her. Seekers adore all little ones, no matter their… conditions," Strika was done with all of them, tapping away at a second data pad she magicked out of thin air. Probably drawing up said documents. She wasn't the only one who could detect lies, it seemed. Dani stiffened, his field flat and muted. The other two sensed the discussion was done, their brief time of levity with their superior over, and wiped all expression from their faces and field, sitting ramrod straight in their seats.

She was done too, a wave of exhaustion dragging her down. Rearranged in the mesh hiding her from view, she was hit with home sickness. Why couldn't they have just made this game simple?

She was an idiot and some things were better left unknown. The 'Task Completed!' notification glared at her from the corner of her vision.

Identify three lies and one truth for the Truth skill

Status: Complete

The level bar filled almost halfway with the experience points but she still felt hollow, the familiar sound of Megatron's spark lulling her into recharge.


	4. Sired by the Stars

orn=one month

Cycle =12 hours

Solar cycle=one day

Stellar cycle= one year

Vorn=83 years

Decivorn= 8.3 years

Dear Damian,

Almost two orns have passed since I was set adrift in this sea of fabricated reality. There's so much here that makes me question what we were told, both by the company and as children, watching our parents slave over this thing. I want you to get me out and I want to go home. I miss you. I miss the way the sun catches on the glass of the city. I miss the view from my office. I miss my fish. I miss the way my neighbors cat forgot which apartment was his and I would find cat hair on my bed. I miss humans and their smiles and how easy it is to lie and believe a lie. I think you would have liked Megatron. He loves me though it's hard to see sometimes. He's always busy, being a Lord and a politician and a single parent now. Sire didn't, or couldn't stay. But this is just a game, right? It all feels so real. I'm starting to wonder, isn't it?

Love, your sister,

Brianne

Two orns had passed since she Megatron brought back from the hospital wrapped in mesh. Two orns of getting use to the place in Tarn and then getting use to her actual 'home'; Kaon. So far her experience in the game was lonely. Other than the servants that ghosted around, the only mechs she'd been introduced to in any official capacity was an old war frame named Cyclonus that was the head of Dani's guard and the mech who she was sure was her sire.

Dani sat at the holo dest, wading through some of the never ending paperwork when the servant announced the guest.

When the Vosian delegation presented themselves, the representative arrived in a hush of colorful mesh draped over plates, his trine at each wing and three smaller, younger mechs she knew were her brothers following behind. "Presenting to Lord High Protector Megatron, seeker of Vos, Lieutenant Starscream and his trine," Wasn't he suppose to be-?

"I see you've redecorated," the smooth voice of the attractive seeker captured her attention. Red chassis and black face, pale painted wings arched proudly. The feeling in her codes, the way her spark lurched against it's casing for one that had help create it. He looked like her in general shape, wings, claws, joints. Slender and build for speed.

"It was time for a change of scenery, Lieutenant." Dani didn't seem all that worried when the seeker advanced, claws trailing over the edge of the desk as he took everything in with red optics. She squirmed, drawing attention to herself and flared her winglets at the intruder.

"My, my, what a spark you have. I had to dig deep this time to find out what was going on. Imagine my surprise when I find out you're keeping secrets from me. A spare sparkling mine in every way," he laughed and leaned forward to get a better look, stopping only when dani growled. "What, I can't even pet my own sparkling?"

"She's not."

"What?" The servo reaching to pet her shook. "What do you mean she's not mine, Megatron? Of course she's mine." He frowned and looked at her closer, matching features to his line. "She-"

"Looks like any seeker. I took many lovers after we separated. It's not as though the fidelity contract applied with you carrying and I knew the Winglord would disapprove of any further contact between us. We got lucky those few times we met in secret but we couldn't- Starscream I-"

Indignant, Starscream straightened and folded his arms across his flight canopy.

"So who? Prove it! Give me a name then, if she's not mine. Megatron," Starscream flattened his wings and looked up at Dani with wide optics. "Tell me what's- she's mine! There's no way you would dare!"

"I would dare! Who cares who carried her, it could have been a pleasure bot for all I care! She's mine in every way that matters and telling you that I DARED would change nothing!"

"A pleasure bot! Who all have you been seeing?"

"That's really none of you business now is it?" Megatron snarled, optics narrowing down at the seeker.

"You can't even pick another carrier right, can you, you fool! Look at her! She's-"

"Perfectly healthy! She just small for her age. I'm sure there are seekers that were the same size!"

"She not just small, she premature. I found her medical files Megatron!"

"Then you'll know that she passed the expected time frame for her spark to burn out." Ok, that was a new one.

Starcream's trine doubled as babysitters, the biggest purple and black seeker herding the three young mechs over to the side out of the direct path of the fight she could tell was brewing. The light blue one lingered, watching her in her dani's grip, probably wondering if he needed to rescue her before the two got any louder.

"Hey, if I could-"

"Not now Skywarp!" "What!?"

They both turned on him and she had to give it to him, he had balls of steel for not making himself scarce,

"Can I hold her while you two talk?"

"No!" She found herself tucked against the plating on dani's side where she could cling to the smaller plates easier. Latching on, she almost fell again when Starscream flew into another rant, ending somewhere along the lines of,

"-can't even trust my wing mate with MY daughter can you?"

"Not when he fragging teleports, Starscream. I wasn't born yesterday!"

"I know, you're ancient! And what are you afraid of? Skywarp kidnapping the little brat for me?! And you didn't deny it that time!" Starscream pointed an accusing finger at Megatron.

"Starrr-" Skywarp saw the train wreck this was about to turn into.

"She's not yours she's mine! And watch what you call her you-" dani made a lunge forward, barely restraining himself, shaking servos now free to possibly strangle the sire she had just met. Instead of backing down like he should have, the seeker bowed up to his tallest height, wings fanned out behind him. Thundercracker ushered her brothers out the door at that point, plating slicked against their protoform making them look smaller, younger than she had first thought. They only came up to Starscream's hips and whatever the two had going on, it seemed recent. If they were closer to her age than she thought- Megatron snarled again and Skywarp lunged between the two, Cyclonus and Strika coming in from the hall where they had been trying to give the illusion of privacy to the happy couple.

"Fine then!" he got even closer, poking Megatron in the chest with a single clawed digit. "You fragged around, did you? You went to some pleasure bot when I was RIGHT HERE! I'VE ALWAYS BEEN HERE! And you go and frag some random bot that couldn't even do what you wanted right when OUR younglings are right there! The younglings I gave you!" More poking, wings high and vibrating with rage, Skywarp wrapped his servos around his upper arm, holding him back. "I moved all of Cybertron so we had permission to mate! I begged and pleaded and was humiliated by my own family so that I could be a condition of that treaty! Night after night the only thing I PRAYED for was to give you a trine and a heir. I would have given you one more if you had just fragging- fragging," vents heaving, his optics started to well with tears, pressing a flat hand to Dani's chest. She couldn't tell what Dani was feeling, his spark was closed off and he had gone still. "I've been here, waiting for you to pull your head out of your aft, and you just- I wouldn't steal that- that- THAT MALFUNCTION FROM YOU IF SHE WAS THE LAST SPARKLING ON ALL OF CYBERTRON!"

Cyclonus lunged between the two, trying to press Megatron back and get him to let go of the seeker at the same time Skywarp and then Thundercracker bodily lifted their trine mate out of the way of the snarling code controlled Warlord. Someone hit her in the rush and her squeal only added to the panic, Strika joining the fray to try to jerk Megatron back by his sensor plates. It worked in that he stopped trying to maul Starscream, it didn't work in the sense that, protector and carrier protocols activated, Strika was the next target.

She fell, claws slipping with all the movement, the field of everyone in the room smothering her all at once. Megatron twisted an caught her, flaring out all his plating to get the others away.

"Get out! Every body out!" he tried to get her to calm down, soothing her with rubs and purrs as she started to click sparkling-speech, "Easy, easy, stay with me little one. Little star, hush," Pulling her close to his spark, trying to stabilize hers with his. "Get out." Starscream seemed frozen, she could see him watching her, flinching at each spark pulse fading.

"I could-"

"You've done enough!" There was Cyclonus, wedging himself between the two, shoving Starscream aside to make room for the medic who was always on standby. Well now she knew why, at least.

"Lord Megatron, Thundercracker of Vos is here to speak to you." The servant bowed out but Cyclonus, standing at attention at Megatron's shoulder, stayed.

"Thundercracker, here to finish what your leader started?" he gestured up to scratch running down the side of his faceplates, denta bared in a snarl.

"Ah, no my lord," the seeker cringed, optics on the tile. "I-" he kneeled, "I came to beg forgiveness on behalf of my trine leader."

"On his behalf? He didn't feel like coming himself?"

"To be honest," he held optic contact with Megatron, disapproval in his gaze, "He's inconsolable. He clings to the triplets like we're already in Vos."

"Stand up, Thundercracker. And what do you mean by 'already in Vos'?"

"Starscream sent in a request to cycle out with another diplomat. He can't stay here any longer. Unfortunately once we return to Vos, the younglings will most likely be placed in the palace Crèche by the Winglord and Starscream will start receiving pressure to mate again."

Megatron contemplated the news, "I will send a letter to Winglord, see if I can get them chaperoned visits to Kaon to get them out of Vos and to keep Starscream with them. The Winglord and I have yet to discuss any details concerning their education anyway, so inform Soundwave if they're placed in a crèche. He should know his place regarding my younglings."

"And the femme? Why didn't you tell Star the truth?"

"What truth?" Megatron straightened, pinned to the seat by the knowing glare of the larger seeker.

"She's his, I can see it in every twitch and glance. My brother looked just like that when he was born, just bigger," he added with a wry twist of his lips. They glanced over at the sleeping pallet on the floor in the corner, partially hidden by a wall drapery depicting the collision of Primus and Unicron. The sparkling in question blinked sleepy optics and purred a greeting at being the center of attention so suddenly. She blinked again at the large seeker, reaching to be picked up.

"Honestly? When the triplets reach their majority I'll have partial custody of them with the Winglord because of their war frame build and they will come live in Kaon or attend whatever academy they please at that point. I'm not going to let them be tied down to the Vosian throne when your Winglord has so many other descendants. The femme," Megatron grunted a little as he scooped her off the pallet and ignored Thundercracker's coo at her little squeals and squeaks, "Is most defiantly not a war frame. She's small, a runt definitely due to her premature emergence."

"I saw her medical files too,"

"Then you'll know the Winglord would have her thrown off High Tower. He won't abide by having her in his line, he's still too much of a functionalist to stand it." Thundercracker shifted uncomfortably at the though of what his great grandsire would do to his niece.

"There have been other like her before, surely.."

"And they've all been treated well have they?" Megatron settled her in his lap and leaned forward, "I have a vast number of civilian and war frame seekers in this city right now who can tell me how well my femme will be treated as she is now. Seekers are notorious for loving sparklings but the second one like her turns up they're nothing but hypocrites, eager to get rid of any blight on their line." Thundercracker vented, looking down at his claws, watching the play of artifical light over the shine.

"I will keep it a secret but it's going to come out one day, you know. We're from the line of unbroken rule, past Winglords in our coding as far as our history will take us back," he grimaced, "and you're no blank slate either. Warlord from nothing, the grit of the planet in your lines and the fire of the smelters in your optics. You've fought for everything you've ever had and since she emerged, so has your femme, fought down to every fatal spark pulse. I wouldn't be surprised if her naming is heralded."

"I don't hold much stock in prophecies or Primus, Thundercracker," Megatron relaxed at the other's agreement, but there was still a frown on his face, words echoing in his processor. "I think it's time we're done here, I look forward to further peace with Vos, please give your Grand Sire my regards."

"Of course, my lord, please inform us of the ceremony date, we'll be sure to send… a representative. I hope the Sire is proud, she is a lovely little thing despite-," all affection that the seeker had had for her was hidden behind a grimace when he looked at her, "-the rumors of her Malfunctions." With a parting bow, the large blue seeker turned to leave.

"Another thing, Thundercracker," the seeker stopped.

"Yes, my lord?"

"As far as anybody is concerned, I'm the sire. Understand?"

"I understand."

The door to the study closed and Megatron lifted her up to his face plates, her sitting on the palm of his hand and grasping at his fingers for balance.

"Did you hear that, lovely little one? You'll call me Sire when you learn to talk and you'll never know anything else, We can't have mechs causing trouble, hm?" She did what anybody pretending to be a sparkling would do in that situation, she tried to stick her hand in his mouth.

Thank you everyone who reviewed or favorited! I'm taking suggestions for names of the oc for the next chapter if anybody wants to help me out.


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